Creatures of the Night
by Radi0Activity
Summary: He's ten when it happens - when he's transformed into one of them. He's a Night Hunter, or, as you would know them, a werewolf. In fact, he's done pretty damn well as far as hiding his... condition for his whole life - until the Avengers moved in. Now he has to fight a war between the Supernatural race as well as hide his true identity from those closest to him. Well... Damn...
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER - I DONT OWN THE AVENGERS**

* * *

**CHAPTER ONE**

Golden eyes shine like piercing headlights from the leafy cover made up by the thick willow trees lining the banks of a dark and murky river. The leaves barely move as a dark, graceful body slinks through their cover before racing noiselessly through the swampy habitat and coming to a steady halt at a few large rocks. The creature lifts up a paw and inspects it intensely as razor sharp claws extend from the mass of black fur – gleaming like little silver lights in the darkness.

It pads up to the highest rock, three metres in the air and jutting out from a sheer cliff, before tilting its dark snout toward the glowing full moon. Closing its eyes, and waiting until it hears a far-off howl, it straightens. Suddenly, without so much as a warning, the creature open's its mouth and emits a vicious howl of its own, ripping through the trees and resonating through the small town less than ten yards away.

Satisfied, the creature transforms – once a dark, black wolf with sleek black fur and piercing golden eyes, to a proud looking man. He's six foot tall with dark sweeping lashes which frame dark golden eyes and long, sleek hair which almost reaches his shoulders. His hands are rough and calloused – as are his feet which are without shoes.

He takes a step down from the rocks, his bare feet sinking partly into the swampy floor. A dark cape flies behind him, covering his black attire, consisting of a black body-suit – a gun strapped precariously from the side and a whip dangling harmlessly from the other.

A smirk adorns the werewolf's features as he prowls toward the far off lights of the poor, unsuspecting village – his movements graceful and strong as a wolf, yet a brain with the prowess of a man.

* * *

"Just a minute, mum," A young boy mutters as he tugs on his dark skinny jeans in the flickering light of his holiday bedroom (usually he'd live in New York, nice and comfortably in his mansion... what did he do to deserve _this _place?). As he manages to (finally) pull them on, he swipes his black converse up from the wooden floor of the cozy little cottage.

Quickly he slides them on his feet and shoots a glance at the window before quickly hurrying toward the kitchen where his mother is preparing a turkey and pudding, ready for the family guests coming to celebrate this very cold Christmas.

His mother is waiting impatiently by the stove, red mittens covering her hands as she peers anxiously at the cooking turkey. "It took you long enough, Tony." She says in exasperation, though her expression is light and her eyes are gleaming.

"Sorry, mum," Tony mutters, biting his bottom lip and rubbing his hands together in an attempt to warm up. "Why is it so cold? It's _supposed _to be summer."

Tony's mother sighs and chooses to ignore the question, which she guesses is most likely rhetorical anyway.

"I mean, if we were still in Canada or something, I could understand." He continues his little rant, including elaborate hand movements this time. "But we're on a holiday in _Australia_! Shouldn't it be hot?"

This time, his mother laughs. "It's almost the middle of the night." She says patiently. "That's why it's cold."

The boy laughs and shoots another glance out a window, quickly turning back as he spots quite an unnerving sight; two little golden lights and the unmistakable gleam of a gun in the faint light of the moon.

* * *

It's a little under an hour later and the man is standing beside a window, looking in at the boy who is laughing and helping his mother serve out the pudding. His unruly brown hair is constantly falling into his dark eyes and his hand is forever brushing it out of his line of vision.

The man runs his right hand down the glass, leaving five long lines in the foggy window and smiles wryly to himself before transforming back into a wolf and ducking quickly into the undergrowth.

* * *

"I won't be long, mum," Tony says with a forced smile. "I just want to get one of my toys from the backyard – I accidentally left it there when I was playing this morning."

Tony's mother frowns slightly and shoots a quick glance at their guests and Tony's father who is beginning to get a little tipsy. "Don't be antisocial." She says sternly as she hands her sister a slice of the pudding.

"Mum, I won't be long." Tony promises, smiling again. It's such a ridiculously fake smile that he wonders why she hasn't snapped at him for _lying _to her. She must know that he wasn't even outside that morning and so, he couldn't possibly have left any of his toys out there.

His mother purses her lips. "Alright, Tony." She says finally with a suppressed sigh, eyeing him suspiciously as she offers Tony's father a slice of pudding.

Tony smiles again, a little less forced than earlier, and removes his coat from its position slung across a white wood chair, before walking to the door.

* * *

When he opens the door, he is still slipping his arms into the soft, warm material of his coat, and shuts the door behind him. He walks toward the undergrowth before the man decides to step out of hiding and reveal himself.

"Hello, Tony," he says, his voice low and smooth.

Tony jumps in alarm, his eyes wide. "I knew somebody was out here." He mutters, blinking up at the man standing before him. "You have no business being on my father's property. Go away!"

He resists the urge to put out his hand and yell; _Stop it! I don't like it! _The way he'd been taught in kindergarten. But he was a big boy now. No man with scary gold eyes was going to make him back off – not now that he was t-

"How old are you?"

Tony feels like lying and telling the man that he's twenty, just trapped in the body of a young kid, and yes he _could _beat him up thank you very much. Wishful thinking – Tony couldn't beat this guy up even if his tried. "I'm ten." He says defiantly, jutting out his chin and puffing up his chest.

"Tony Stark?" The man asks, a satisfied look creeping into his eyes.

"I'd say yes if I knew your name and could actually introduce myself properly."

"A very well spoken ten year-old, apparently," the man looks amused.

"So I'm told." Tony says, though his attention has been drawn to the gleaming gun on the man's belt and he gulped. Was this guy going to _murder_ him?

The man smiles and holds out his hand. "Hello, Tony Stark." He says. "My name is Hunter – nice to meet you."

Tony eyes his hand warily after managing to tear his gaze away from the gun. "Hi, Hunter." He says, his jaw set and legs braced and ready to run.

Hunter sighs and brings his cape around to cover the gun on his hip. "I'm not going to kill you." He says in exasperation. "But you _are _going to come with me. Unfortunately, the Night Dwellers have gotten out of hand again and we _need _you."

Tony just has time to look completely confused (who in their right mind would ask a ten year old for _help_? Especially someone with a _gun_) before Hunter smiles darkly, the golden glow of his eyes becoming even brighter as his teeth elongate and become pointed.

Tony's first thought is; _He's a vampire! _Until Hunter gets down on all fours, hands becoming large, black paws and thick, black hair sprouting from all over his body.

His ears become pointed, sprouting from the top of his head instead of the sides and suddenly Tony can tell what he is. He's a wolf. He's a _were_wolf.

Hunter snarls now, the transformation complete and not at all what Tony imagined a werewolf to be. He's just like a standard wolf, though more powerful and almost double the size. He's not hairless and standing on his hind legs (and his face _certainly _isn't tiny) like the werewolves in _Harry Potter. _No; not at all.

In fact; Tony's about to voice his thoughts out loud when Hunter lunges for him, snapping and snarling. His teeth sink into the boy's neck and Tony sinks into darkness with a strangled cry.

* * *

When Tony wakes up, he is surprised to find himself in a dark cave, a steady _drip, drip _the only sound that reaches his ears. He reaches up to touch his neck, wincing when his hands rub against raw, exposed skin. _Ow. _His vision is slightly blurred and the last thing he remembers is Hunter saying something about Night Dwellers, whatever the heck they were.

"How are you feeling?" It's a woman's voice, not the low voice of Hunter which he'd been expecting.

Tony looks up at the woman, biting his bottom lip before pursing his lips and moving into a sitting position. "My neck hurts." He mumbles crankily, trying to push the fear out of his tone. To be honest, right now is the only time he's been truly scared during this whole ordeal and he doesn't like it – not at all.

His fear mostly comes from her strong appearance. She has long black hair, rather like Hunter – the same gold eyes and long, sweeping lashes. The only differences would be their skin tones – where his was a deathly pale, hers was a dark olive skin tone. And, whereas his hands and feet were rough and calloused, hers were smooth and dainty – even though the dark expression on her face said her personality was anything but that.

"Are you Hunter's sister or something?" He asks when the woman doesn't respond.

"Yes," she says easily. "I've been told the likeness is remarkable."

Tony nods slowly before deciding to change the subject. "What's your name?"

The woman smiles wryly. "Clover," she introduces herself. "I am Clover, a Night Hunter of Nox." When Tony raises his eyebrows in question she decides to elaborate. "My name is Clover. A Night Hunter is another name for a werewolf and _nox_ is Latin for_ night_ – the name of our pack."

Tony would've questioned her further on the whole werewolf thing (he wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't seen Hunter transform in front of his eyes). "Why am I here?"

"Hunter transformed you." Clover says, straight to the point. "He's been a bit... restless lately. Said something about wanting to bite someone – apparently our race is becoming almost extinct." She snorted as if she didn't believe it herself.

Tony's mouth dropped open. "I'm a _werewolf_?" He whispers hoarsely.

Clover sighs and moves to sit next to the young ten year old and places a comforting hand on his back. "As of today," she says softly. "The transformation takes a full month – meanwhile the victim remains in a comatose state while they transform. Tony, you've been out for a full month."

* * *

When Tony returns to his parents, he can tell they're both immensely relieved (even though Howard tries to keep up a façade that no, he really couldn't care less). Maria openly starts sobbing into his shirt – wailing that she'd thought she's lost him forever.

Not long after, they're boarding a plane straight back home and Tony couldn't feel more relieved.

* * *

When Tony turns fifteen, he gets the call. He's ready to hurl the phone at the wall and yell to him mum that, _oh shit; I have a stalker on my tail!_

He doesn't even know how Clover got his number in the first place – that in itself is kinda creepy. What sort of twenty-two year old tries to stalk a poor innocent fifteen year old?

Tony pretends that she's just opened up fresh wounds, saying something like; "I've tried to forget about my more wolfy personality!" which doesn't go down all that great.

Actually, every full moon (werewolves can transform whenever they like – though the change is forced when they get mad and on the full moon) Tony changes and goes for a stroll in the woods. It's actually kinda fun.

Anyway, according to Clover, the pack has moved to New York to keep an eye on him and also to stay well away from the Night Dwellers and the steady increase of undead population. Tony doesn't know what to think on _that _one.

"I'm coming to Stark Towers on Monday." Clover informs him in a tone that screams; _don't argue with me! _"You're very poorly informed in the ways of the Night Hunters and especially Nox!" Don't ask Tony why the werewolves call themselves Night hunters.

"I'm not part of your pack, remember?" He snaps irritably.

"Like it or not, you kind of are." Clover says cheerily. "Its not like Die would accept you anyway."

"Die is Latin for day, right?" Tony asks, just to make sure. "Not _die _as in; 'AAAARGH! I SHALL KILL YOU!'"

"Goodbye, Tony."

* * *

"The Undead?"

"Zombies."

"Night Dwellers?"

"Vampires."

"Dim Folk?"

"They're ordinary humans. We call them 'Dim' for short." Now Tony is seriously getting bored. It's the Monday after Clover gave him that call and ever since, she's been questioning him on every bit of vocabulary. He reckons he'll be chanting all this in his sleep tonight – he's repeated himself so many times already today.

Finally, Clover smiles and leans back into the couch. "Great!" She says happily. "Let's go train."

Oh, so _now _he's about to get his butt kicked. Wonderful.

* * *

**A/N: **

**So, this is my new fic. IT'S PEPPERONY PEOPLE! STONY MAKES ME WANT TO GAG - NOT THAT I HAVE ANYTHING AGAINST GAY PEOPLE. DON'T TAKE MY HATRED FOR THE PAIRING LIKE THAT PLEASE! TONY IS 10000000000% STRAIGHT! SERIOUSLY!**

**I uh, well... I hope you like it as I am pretty proud of this first chap. **

**So ummm... Could u please drop a review? I want to know whether or not I should bother continuing. If nobody likes it... Well... What's the point? Capiche? :) **

**:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) PLEASE REVIEW(: (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (: **


	2. Chapter 2

**So I apologise right now for the swearing in this chap (I starred it out, usually I HATE swearing, it makes me feel gross - sorry). But this should be the only time I use it so much. I was in a bad mood when I wrote this - don't judge! No other chapters will be like this PROMISE! Nonetheless, it's a decent chapter (I thought) so yeah, read on and ignore the bad words!**

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN THE AVENGERS! ALL RIGHTS GO TO MARVEL!

* * *

CHAPTER TWO

The first time Tony went through a forced transformation, it was the most excruciating thing imaginable. He thinks it occurred when he was seventeen - he'd gone off at Obadiah about something or other and then, all of a sudden, a white hot pain was coursing through his body like piercing wildfire.

He doesn't remember much - Clover told him afterward that when a werewolf loses their temper (a feat which starts a forced transformation) they lose their minds in the process. He was horrified when he saw the news that night, Man Killed in Vicious Wolf Attack, and knew instantly that it was he who'd murdered him. The guilt was nearly unbearable and Tony had been furious with himself for not having the courage to end his own life as punishment.

The second time he went through a forced transformation the pain wasn't as bad as last time. Granted, it was still horrible and excruciating and yeah, he still wasn't in his right mind but at least this time he didn't actually kill anybody.  
He actually felt pretty damn proud of himself.

The third time? Well let's just say he'd never expected it to happen in a room full of Avengers... Sort of...

* * *

"Anthony Edward Stark, get your fat ass down here before I come up there and make you."

Well, no doubt about it - that was definitely Natasha. Damn. He was just about to call Pepper but that, coming from the assassin, was a not-so-subtle death threat.

With a sigh, the billionaire places his phone back down on his chest of drawers, his fingers lingering for a moment longer on the sleek black shape. He bites his lip and turns around slowly before heading briskly toward the door of his bedroom.

When he gets to the kitchen, he's feeling fairly grumpy already. Somehow, he's stepped on something sharp on the way down in his bare feet so now he's leaving a little spot of blood wherever he walks. Brilliant.

Not to mention, he's cold. F*cking freezing really. And he's been deprived of a call to Pepper. That's even better.

Oh, and Rhodey's just left a message on his phone apologizing that 'Sorry Tony, I'm heading downtown tonight - I can't come over." What he's left unsaid is 'I hope you're happy stuck in a house with Captain freaking America. Have fun!'

Because Rhodey totally knows how much the billionaire genius f*cking hates the captain. Sometimes.

So, you can imagine he's not particularly polite when he says good morning to the team... or doesn't say good morning.

"What the fudge do you want, Natashalie?" He demands snidely. Because (yes, you can be proud of him) he's tried to cut down on the swearing thanks to a few... stern words from Clover (Hunter couldn't have cared less, really).

Natasha looks mildly surprised at his word choice but shrugs it off all the same. "I wondered if you wanted breakfast."

Tony sighs. "Yeah." He says softly. "Yeah. I'm starving, thanks Tasha."

The assassin looks taken aback and Clint, Steve and Bruce shoot each other confused looks which are shrugged off almost immediately. Who knew what went through Stark's mind on even a good day.

"Well, there's bacon and eggs on the counter there." Natasha says, walking briskly toward the fridge and scouring it's many contents for a banana.

Tony sighs and helps himself to a couple of eggs and a heap of bacon. His head is f*cking throbbing and he's literally about to fall asleep on the spot. He stumbles to the counter and sits down extremely ungracefully on a stool, his eyelids half shut as he brings a bit of bacon to his mouth.

"You alright, Stark?"

"Put a lid on it Cap."

The super soldier glances warily at Natasha who shrugs and slams the fridge shut, kind of annoyed that her banana hunt had been unsuccessful.  
Bruce, who is scanning a newspaper with disdain, frowns slightly. "Hey guys," he says slowly, running a finger down the paper. "What do you think of shape shifters?"

Suddenly the billionaire is wide awake. His head snaps up and his eyes bore intensely into the newspaper. "What does that say?" He demands urgently.  
Bruce shrugs, slightly surprised at Tony's outburst. "Not much." He says honestly. "So, what do you think?"

Tony's eyes glint mischievously. "They're pretty awesome."

"They seem evil... And shady - I wouldn't trust them." And there you have it folks - the captain manages to insult Tony Stark without even realizing it.

"I don't like it." Clint says abruptly, not even noticing as Tony's hard gaze bores into his head.

"I don't see the issue. They don't exist anyway." Natasha says decisively and Tony can't quite understand how she can say that but also come in contact with Norse gods, portals to other realms and crazy alien thingies.

"I do not understand the term shape-shifter." Thor says. "Therefore I cannot pass judgment on the matter."

Bruce looks up from his paper and purses his lips as he attempts to think of an explanation for the Norse God (you know, one in English - not crazy science language). "They are types of people who can turn into an animal at will. Like werewolves - though I think they only transform at the full moon." He frowns as he catches a glance at Tony who is a little red in the face. His teeth are gritted together and his hands are balled into fists resting on the table. "Hey... Tony, are you okay?"

"Just peachy." The billionaire mutters through gritted teeth. Ah, f*ck. Why does he have to get so damn defensive of his kind? They've just insulted shape shifters (which definitely include werewolves) and have denied the fact that there might actually be people like that out there. "I uh... just need to go to the toilet so... yeah..." His eyes dart around nervously and he stands up shakily. Hold it in, Stark.

"Tony..." Natasha begins, because she can tell that he's mad about something. What did they say? What did they do?

"I'll... I'll be back." He mutters gruffly, biting his lip nervously.

_Get a hold of yourself, Stark. _He thinks irritably, squeezing his eyes shut tight and practically sprinting from the room.

The others shoot each other wary glances, eyes trailing after billionaire as he sprints off. "Do you think we should tell him that the bathroom is in the opposite direction?" Natasha mutters.

Clint purses his lips and shrugs. "Nah."

* * *

"Hunter…" Tony gasps, clutching his stomach. It feels like every one of his ribs are snapping and his face feels like its on f*cking fire and he can't feel his feet and... Oh…

"Clover…" His vision is blurry and he can barely stand up at all, let alone stand up _straight_. He feels an unpleasant tingling in his teeth as they elongate and his feet and hands feel like they're being sent through a blender.

Dammit! Why the heck can't he control himself? "Oh…" It's the last sound he makes before his mind is taken over by an animalistic need.

* * *

"Is that the intercom?" Steve asks, stifling a yawn and taking a small sip out of his mug of coffee.

"Probably," Bruce mutters, reading through the article on shape shifters again and again even though he's not really taking anything in. His brain is working a mile a minute and he can't really focus on much else except for Tony's erratic behaviour.

Suddenly, the lift dings and the doors slide open to reveal a male and female standing side by side in the doorway. Their eyes are flickering around the room warily as though they're scanning the place for threats.

"Where is he?" The man snaps, his eyes narrowed urgently.

Clint snickers. "Bathroom." He says shortly and Natasha just rolls her eyes before elaborating: "He went that way." She pointed to the hallway behind her.

The two shoot each other glances. "C'mon, Clove." The man mutters, grabbing the woman's wrist and tugging her toward the billionaire.

"You do not have the right to be in this tower." Thor booms from the general direction of the fridge.

The man frowns. "I'm Hunter, she's Clover. I'm sure Mr Stark filled you in, did he not?"

Without elaborating any further, the two break into a sprint. They don't get very far, however, before an ear-splitting howl pierces the building.

Hunter's eyes fill with horror and he stops dead in his tracks. Clover, however, keeps going, determination set in her eyes. "Come on Hunter." She growls.

Why does it feel like all the Avengers are missing something very important here?

* * *

It's a little over four hours later when they see Tony again.

All Clint can say on the matter is, "How damn long does it take to do a shit?"

Natasha shrugs and flops backward onto the couch, her hair fanning out behind her in a cascade of red curls. "Maybe he's constipated."

Steve just has time to reflect on how one of the most sensible women he knows has just turned into an inappropriate two-year-old before three people burst into the room.

One is Tony Stark, standing there with a smirk on his face. He's wearing a slick leather jacket over a white cotton shirt and dark denim jeans with black shoes. In his hand swings a black pair of Ray Ban sun glasses. His dark hair is sticking up wildly and his dark eyes gleam with humor.

Another is Clover. Her black hair is held in a messy plait which reaches her lower back. She's pretty much wearing the exact same as Tony, minus the glasses and she's wearing black vans on her feet. Her eyes are unusually golden and calculating, scanning the Avengers who are seated lazily over the lounge suite watching a rather humorous episode of _Super Nanny_.

The other is Hunter. You can tell Clover and Hunter are related, both with long dark hair, unusual gold eyes and the same equally proud features. Although Clover seems to hold herself with more poise and grace. Hunter is wearing the identical outfit to Tony, though his white shirt seems to have a menacing picture of a wolf on the front.

"Well," Tony says lazily. "You certainly look… comfortable."

The others look mildly shocked to see him. Last they saw, he was having nothing short of a panic attack. Now, to see him standing here, dressed up casually with a happy-go-lucky expression on his face… It was mildly concerning.

"You okay there, Stark?" Steve asks, frowning slightly.

The billionaire grins. "Yeah, why?"

Either he's forgotten absolutely everything or he's refusing to acknowledge it ever happened. Clearly it's the latter. Natasha can see that he's fighting back the impulse to wring Steve's neck.

"Never mind – don't worry about it."

Tony smirks. "Good. Now, if you'll excuse me – I have a date with destiny. Come minions."

Clover and Hunter raise their eyebrows behind him, completely bemused. He's talking to them – they all know it.

"Where are you going?" Bruce demands, eyes narrowed.

Tony grins again and together the three say in unison; '_Nox_'.

Well. That _totally _clears stuff up. Ha. Not.

* * *

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	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE**

* * *

In Tony's defence, it was all Steve's fault, really.

If Steve hadn't existed in the first place or (better yet) had actually _died _in the ice – he wouldn't have transformed in the middle of AvengersTower. Though, Tony had to compliment the man for his uncanny ability to tick him off without trying – that was certainly new.

His eyes flick to the side and glance sheepishly at the cut on Clover's neck. It's barely visible as it disappears underneath her leather jacket, but its there, all the same and Tony feels terrible that he's done something like that to her. And he can tell, in the way that she keeps flexing her neck and wincing, that it's bothering her more than she openly lets on.

He knows it's a bad idea, which is probably going to get him killed before he even has the chance to face off against his Alpha in a battle to the death, but he stops abruptly (which, inevitably, makes the siblings stop too) and turns to face the woman beside him. "Hey… Clove?" He begins hesitantly. "Are you okay?"

Hunter sighs audibly and rolls his eyes before walking again, kicking a rock aside which spins off into the undergrowth with a loud rustling noise.

Clover purses her lips and starts walking again. "Fine." She says shortly, her eyes darkening. She's not mad at Tony – not at all – but she's frustrated that he's speaking to her as though she can't handle a bit of pain.

Tony can tell that she doesn't want to talk about it, that she wants to drop the subject and so, he jogs to catch up. A million more questions are dancing on the tip of his tongue but he's afraid to let them go – otherwise his earlier prediction (you know, the one when he decided that she was gonna kill him) certainly _would _come true.

* * *

Its not that Flynn-Lee is a _bad _Alpha (well, maybe he is, but that's beside the point)... He's just a little impulsive and not at all what the pack needs to defeat the Night Dwellers.

In fact, Tony feels awful that he needs to kill the guy to take the pack into his own hands but, if he's really honest with himself (and really, he does try to be), he knows that he needs to do this. It's not for his own benefit, even Steve could see that, but for the benefit of the Night Walkers (and the witches, warlocks, sorcerers, sorceresses and fairies who are _all _on the side of the Night Walkers).

He feels like he's about to throw up as he walks into a foggy clearing where the pack meets once a fortnight. His stomach is churning and he feels like such a f*cking liar that he almost falls over his own feet.

It's weird though. Tony's never had any second thoughts about killing a man before so why is this so different? Why can't he just look him in the face and kill him without batting an eyelash? Uh... Did that sound a bit girly?

"Are you okay?" Clover whispers, noticing his pale face and nauseous expression.

Tony turns to her, fear making him act as he does next. He decides that it's probably just to give her a taste of her own medicine and doesn't regret it until much later. "I'm fine." He snaps, a little louder than intended.

There's a rustling in the branches above them and suddenly, a figure drops down in front of them, his blue eyes gleaming. Tony can't help but feel like Flynn-Lee looks a little too happy today. It's dark and cold, the fog is thick and it looks like it's about to pour with rain. The faster they get this over with, the happier he'll be.

The Alpha is a little shorter than Tony with a scruffy, unkempt goatee on his chin - his hair just as messy. He's wearing a black cape and a fully black body suit with high black boots - the standard outfit for members of Nox. His nose is a little pointed, his eyebrows a little high and his cheekbones a little shallow but somehow, he manages to look menacing at the same time.

"Hello Anthony, Hunter, Clover." He nods to each of them in turn, the corners of his thin mouth twitching up into cruel smile that gets on Tony's nerves a little.

"Tony." The billionaire says abruptly and Flynn-Lee's smile intensifies.

"Anthony." He says back, his gaze challenging and the cruel smile never wavering on his face.

Hunter places a restraining hand on Tony's chest, his eyes flashing darkly. "In the name of our forefathers, Anthony Edward Stark wishes to challenge you for full leadership of this pack in the hopes that he may lead faithfully during this troubled time."

There is a collective gasp from the trees above where the rest of the pack is no doubt listening in curiously.

Flynn-Lee doesn't look surprised, however. He just keeps that awful smile on his face and grips the hilt of his emerald-encrusted dagger until his knuckles turn a ghostly white. "I know."

Tony frowns slightly. "Who told you?"

The Alpha shrugs. "A well informed guess, Anthony." He says, blinking nonchalantly at the billionaire. "You're wearing outfits that do not fit with the traditional Nox gear, an outright signal for rebellion, and one does hear... whispers from time to time."

Tony startles for a moment, though quickly regains composure. "Well," he smiles wryly. "I'm glad that our announcement wasn't too much of a shock."

"Not at all." Flynn-Lee even has the nerve to chuckle as he waves off the comment with a hand as though he couldn't care less. "However, forgive me for asking, how could you, an abomination of our kind, run this pack any better than a fully bred Night Hunter?"  
That does it. Finally, Tony snaps, a snarl eliciting from deep within his throat. He's transformed at his own will however - it wasn't forced and thankfully, he still has his own mindset. He transforms into a large chocolate brown wolf with snowy white paws, a white tipped tail and a white chest.

Rearing up onto his hind legs, he let's out a furious howl, facing off his leader who casually becomes a thin, lithe wolf with piercing golden eyes (all born Night Hunters have gold eyes, a characteristic which often made it easy to tell the difference between a wolf which had been turned and a wolf which had been born into the pack) and a scruffy grey pelt.

They face each other off, eyes dark and menacing as they contemplate the best way to strike. Flynn-Lee has the advantage of more experience but Tony has learned to not only use his jaw and body weight, but his claws too.

The Alpha rears up too, shifting all his weight onto his hind legs, teeth bared and ears flattened against his head menacingly. He lets out an eerie howl as he studies his opponent, making Hunter and Clover back away nervously so as to not get in the way of the two battling wolves.

It happens suddenly, so suddenly that nobody could have possibly been prepared for such a fast movement. Tony springs, his jaw open wide and claws out and gleaming in the late afternoon sun.

He rakes them across his alpha's pelt, causing him to yelp and dodge to the side before quickly darting in to deliver a fatal blow to the neck. Luckily for Tony, he's quick enough to avoid the attack and he presses himself to the moist ground, causing Flynn-Lee to miss him by just centimeters.

The forest is deadly quiet now, quieter than anybody can remember. The birds aren't chirping and the only sound that can be heard are the snarls emitting from the werewolves as they battle for dominance.

Tony seems to have the upper hand with his larger size and is quick to pin Flynn-Lee to the ground as he would an unsuspecting piece of prey. His mind is on over-drive and the only coherent thought process seems to be; _kill. Tear. Shred. Kill. _

So, he doesn't even stop to think when his claws rake viciously against his alpha's stomach and he doesn't notice the hot blood pooling in his mouth as he delivers a killing bite to Flynn-Lee's neck.

He doesn't notice until it's over. He doesn't notice until his alpha is still.

And when he does notice, he's filled with such horror that he doesn't even notice the people jumping down from the branches above. He doesn't notice as Hunter steps forward and names him the new alpha.

His body feels numb, his mind is blank and he can't even find the strength to move away from Flynn-Lee because… what's the point?

What's the point of bothering himself with such small tasks anymore?

He feels almost worse than he did that night when he lost his temper thoroughly for the first time and killed that poor innocent man when he was seventeen. He hardly notices as his pack (and it's _his _pack now) congratulates him and genuinely tells him that they _know _he'll be better than Flynn-Lee ever could.

And that's when he decides that maybe, just maybe, he can move on from this after all. Maybe, just maybe, he can be the leader that they all want him to be.

* * *

Tony's sitting on his bed looking down at his hands miserably when Pepper comes home that night.

(Hunter and Clover are sleeping somewhere on the floor above and the rest of the Avengers are sitting casually in the lounge room watching episode after episode of _Super Nanny _- maybe Coulson _is _a bad influence after all. He doesn't know how that could be so entertaining but clearly it is. Why, he'll never know, because he just doesn't _get _shows like that.)

Her eyes are sad and her smile is watery and grim when she walks in, places her heavy suitcase on the floor and sits down beside him. He doesn't even acknowledge that she's there and he feels absolutely _awful _but he just can't make himself say or do anything. Its lucky she's so understanding (and he can tell that she understands because she just wraps her arms around him and just _holds _him because that's all he needs and he certainly wouldn't have it any other way), otherwise she probably would've gone off her rocker by now about "morals and 'oh, I thought I was your girlfriend'" and all that other stuff that gives him a headache.

In fact, it's about ten minutes later before she even deems it prudent to consider opening her mouth to speak. At least when she does, her voice is calm and not at all upset or angry. "You okay?"

Tony shrugs, mostly because he has a feeling that his mouth is going to actually _fall off _(well, at least it _would _if that was even possible) if he even tries to open it.

"You want to talk about it?"

It's those words that make Tony want to pour his heart and soul out to her. But he can't, and it's just so _damn frustrating _that he just wants to punch a wall and scream. So, again, he shrugs, because that seems to be the only movement he's even capable of right now. He tries not to take in the hurt look on her pale face.

"Look… Tony…" She murmurs, taking one of his hands in hers and holding it tightly. She shuts her eyes slowly and leans heavily against his side, hoping that he'll just wrap his arms around her. He doesn't though and she wasn't really expecting him to. "I… You can trust me. I know you can."

The thing is, he knows he can as well. She's the most trustworthy and the most wonderful, amazing person he's ever met – she truly is.

But he's scared that he'll hurt her.

He's seen what he's capable of. He knows that, if he loses control, it could be her body sprawled helplessly on the ground like a lifeless rag doll.

The image makes him flinch slightly and, apparently, Pepper takes it the wrong way. Her arms drop to her sides and she shifts away from him. "Well… I'll just… go…" Her voice cracks a little as she moves to get up and suddenly, he grips her arm tightly and, without thinking, he's telling her everything (aside from the fact that he's a werewolf – she already knows _that_).

It's such a jumble of words slurred together in his haste not to forget anything that he wonders if she can understand him at all. He doesn't even think that he can understand himself but he guesses that she has some vague idea as to what he's saying because she's nodding slowly, a picture of understanding on her face.

And somehow? That makes everything just a little more bearable.

* * *

Unsurprisingly, it's Natasha who overhears them. Sort of.

She's walking past Tony's bedroom to hear him babbling a load of nonsense to his girlfriend and she's gripped with such a firm curiosity that she just has to stop and listen.

She doesn't mean to pry (well, maybe she does), she's just a curious woman who has a thirst for knowledge. She supposes it's to be expected when you've spent most of your life training as an assassin (or spy, take your pick).

Unfortunately, listening in doesn't do much. She doesn't really understand half of it. Mostly it's a bunch of stuff that doesn't really register in her vast vocabulary (take Night Dwellers for example) and the rest sounds much too garbled to even decipher.

"…killed him Pep! But I didn't mean to, I swear!"

Because when explaining things, Tony is a pro at making it all sound even more confusing than it already is.

"Well, actually, I did… But it was too fast and…"

There's a shout of laughter (actually, it sounds more like a donkey) coming from Clint in the other room which completely obscures anything the billionaire was trying to say just then. And anyway, when his laugh ceases finally, she realises that Tony's saying everything much too fast to understand anyway.

"…Night Dwellers are raising them and so I thought…"

There's a pause here and it sounds almost as though Tony's ashamed of something. By now, Natasha's already wondering why Pepper hasn't taken it upon herself to interrupt his rant. Because, to be honest, that's what she'd do.

"…do better than him at leading them…"

_Do better than whom at leading who? _Natasha thinks in confusion.

"I'm not sure that killing him was the right thing to do…"

And it's only now that Natasha realises that maybe she isn't the only one here with red on her ledger.

* * *

**YAY! I GOT IT OUT AND I'M FEELIN PROUD!**

**So, who do you like best? Clover or Hunter? **

**REVIEW! FAVOURITE! FOLLOW! BE AMAZING! WOOHOO!  
**

**THANKS! U GUYZ ARE TOTALLY LEGENDARY!**


	4. Chapter 4

**_S_ORRY it's been so long guys. I got sidetracked with absymal writers block and was all like "ERMAGAWD WHAT DO I DO?" **

**Then I got this out, not that I was 100% pleased with it but... I figured it was best to get this out than NOTHING, right? **

**I don't know, just tell me what you think. PLEASE PEOPLE!**

* * *

**CHAPTER FOUR **

They've been fighting together for long enough now to know how to match each other strike for strike; blow for blow. Every look, every gesture, every tiny movement is a way of communicating with one another. And, honestly? It's much more effective and _much _more natural than fighting with the Avengers.

Only, Tony hopes that SHIELD doesn't catch wind of this battle down in Times Square because they'd probably be a little suspicious at his lack of armor. Even though, the more rebellious side of him kind of wants the Avengers to rock up. Can you imagine Natasha's _face _when she saw him fighting like a supreme ninja (Hunter's words - not his) with nothing but a dagger and a kick a** whip?

In front of him, Hunter bares his teeth at a Night Dweller with a mane of black dreadlocks, facing him off and growling deeply in the back off his throat. To the left of him, Clover flicks her whip at a red-haired female Night Dweller who merely stands lazily six feet away, a smirk adorning her features. Meanwhile, Tony stands furiously over the apparent dead body of a short, brown haired Night Dweller boy. He looks about sixteen but he's really about a hundred years old.

Tony doesn't know how he can tell; it's more like an instinctive type thing. As if Tony would actually _ask _how old he is. Pfft. As if he _cares_.

He jumps in shock when the boy's head rolls to the side, eyes fluttering and a low gurgling noise coming from the back of his throat. He doesn't say anything, just flicks the finger up at Tony (the billionaire can barely restrain a burst of laughter at this, even though it's probably a bit barbaric to be laughing while someone is _dying_) and with one last sigh, he is still.

The other two make strangled cries in the back of their throats and lunge simultaneously at the siblings. Their anger is shining in their eyes dangerously and they strike with renewed force.

With a snarl, Tony lunges forward, his dagger glinting dangerously in the moonlight. He aims a harsh slash at the female Night Dweller's neck, just as Clover catches her legs with her whip. The female goes stumbling and Tony brings his dagger down on her neck, black blood bubbling from the harsh wound.

"You'll l-lose…" She gurgles, her fangs sliding out menacingly as she collapsed with a loud huff onto the cold, stone ground.

Tony kicks her roughly and snarls. He opens his mouth to say something, his teeth sharpening in the beginnings of a transformation, when a loud shout comes from behind him.

"Tony?"

It's then that everything comes to a halt. Hunter has his foot on the male Night Dweller's chest, his dagger poised above the still heart of the male and turns his head to see whoever has just spoken; Clover looks up, her whip still held tightly in her hand and a gasp escaping her lips. Tony spins around, eyes wide and teeth still razor sharp.

"Clint?" He asks, though it comes out as more of a canine growl. Desperately, he tries to regain control on his human form and his teeth slowly become normal.

"What… how… your suit… I don't…"

"What he means to say is," Natasha steps out from the shadows, eyes flashing and a dark gun in each hand. She tries to look menacing but Tony can see the sheer horror in her eyes as she looks at Tony who is standing over the body of an 'innocent human being'. "What the f*ck are you doing out here _without _us, _without _the suit and _without _informing SHIELD? Actually, what the heck are these things," Here, she gestures randomly at the Night Dwellers. "And why the heck are you fighting them with Clover, Hunter and a _f*cking dagger_?"

The female coughs up blood again and Tony kicks her viciously, a growl rumbling in his throat. "Mmkay…" He trails off, wondering where to begin. "I'm out here fighting 'these things'-" He adds the quotes with his fingers, eyebrows raised. "-without you because you're not equipped to fight them, nor is my suit. SHEILD just makes stuff messy and they get _far _too involved in stuff that doesn't concern them. Also, Clover and Hunter have fought gazillions of these before, as have I, but that's totally beside the point, and daggers are effective – seriously." He takes a moment to pause thoughtfully before adding; "Yeah, that's about it…"

Natasha makes a noise of protest in the back of her throat but is distracted from the huge rant that Tony _totally _knows was coming, when Thor, Bruce and Steve step forward. "What do you mean, the men-" Thor begins but is cut off by Natasha.

"And women." She mutters.

"And women." Thor agrees, nodding slightly. "What do you mean; the men and women of SHIELD make things messy?"

"Yeah," Bruce agrees. "And what do you mean when you say that you've fought gazillions of these before?"

Tony sighs. "Hang on a sec." He holds up a hand and grips his dagger even tighter than before. With one vicious stab, he pierces the heart of the female Night Dweller and, with a loud screech (which isn't so much of a screech, what, with all of the blood bubbling at her neck) she goes limp and is still. Her eyes glaze over, flashing an eerie red before turning a shade of pitch black.

At the same time, Hunter pierces the heart of the male under his foot before straightening and offering the Avengers a mock bow.

"Okay, now, what were you saying?" Tony asks, wiping his dagger on the black jacket of the female, the blood coming off cleanly onto her clothes.

"What do you mean when-" Bruce begins in an attempt to repeat himself. His voice is shaky with shock at what he's just seen and he tries to ignore the shocked exclamations from the group beside him.

"Oh, right, that." Tony nods in understanding. "Well, 'those' are Night Dwellers – that's just another name for a vampire."

Clover and Hunter gasp simultaneously, pressing their hands to their ears and dropping their weapons with loud, echoing clatters on the floor. "Tony!" Hunter gasps. "You _can't _say that! The Law… The pack would _kill _you, literally, for that!"

Tony shrugs. "I'm Alpha now. I'd like to see them try."

Clover stares at him as though she's never seen him before. Her eyes are wide in disbelief and her hands are pressed so hard to her ears that they're turning a pale white. "You think that would stop them?" She hisses. "I… you… You could get us _all _killed!"

"Well I-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold up!" Steve says, holding his hands up and taking a few steps forward so that he's standing right in front of the billionaire. "First of all, vampires? What the heck?"

"They're real, in case you hadn't noticed." Clover snarls, evidently still grumpy with Tony. "Oh, wait… Never mind, you're Dim… You can't see through the Wards."

"I'm what?"

The three exchange glances. "Come on." Tony says finally with a sigh. "We'll explain it all back at the Tower."

* * *

"When I was ten, Hunter here turned me into a werewolf - otherwise known as a Night Hunter." Tony begins, once everyone has been seated around him. "This made me an Abomination, someone who wasn't born as a Night Hunter but someone who was Turned. Actually, I don't even know why Hunter did it..."

"I was hungry." Hunter mutters. "Not that I ate you anyways - you were too cute so I just changed you and-" He flushes a bright red and shuts up abruptly.

Tony stares at him. "This just got really weird, _really _quickly." He says bluntly, before continuing. "Anyway, many of the pack resented me for it."

"Yeah, and what happened?" Clover buts in. "You became Alpha."

Tony shoots her a stern look. "This is _my _story, sugarplum." He snaps. "Anyways... I spent many years hiding away from them after I was Turned, until Clover told me that, like it or not, I was part of pack _Nox_. Mostly because a rogue Night Hunter would be slaughtered on sight and _Die _wouldnt accept me anyways because of who'd Turned me. So, Clover took it upon herslef to teach me everything she knew of the world that seemed to _alien _to me. She told me about Night Dwellers, the Beasts, the Faries and the Undead. She told me everything - including how I need to control my temper otherwise I'm going to transform. So, in a way, I'm kind of like you Bruce. See, if we go through a forced transformation, we lose our minds and become hungry for blood. We're forced to transform on the full moon, only we get to keep our minds then..."

Finally, Tony lets out a breath of air. His hands are shaking slightly and his grip on the smooth, white leather armrest of the couch tightens slightly. He's not totally sure what to do – what would they say? Would they call him a freak? Kick him off the team?

He, Anthony Edward Stark, had just opened up, had just shown weakness… If he hadn't known he was messed up before – he certainly did now. With wary eyes, he scans the team – taking in all their expressions and trying to fight back the impulse to run, run and never come back.

Natasha looks as she always does. That slight thoughtful expression – the one that hides any trace of emotion. Tony knows that he won't ever, not in a million years, know what she's thinking. So, his gaze quickly snaps to Steve.

Huh. That man is completely and utterly _hopeless _at hiding emotions – always has been. His mouth is slightly agape and his eyes hold a swirling mixture of expressions – anxiety, shock, surprise, frustration, disbelief…

Clint's brow is creased with a slight frown. He doesn't seem to know what to do so he just sort of stares blankly at Tony – not sparing Clover and Hunter a second glance.

Bruce, at least, looks understanding. He knows what its like to have something, a monster, within you that is hard to control. And hey, he certainly seems to believe them. After all, if he can hide a giant, green rage monster – why can't Tony hide a wolf?

Thor frowns. That's about it really. He doesn't know how to act. Heck, he probably didn't understand a _word _of that. Why would he? Tony doubts Asgard is inhabited by werewolves, vampires, fairies, zombies and _f*cking dragons_. Nah - they have those Bilgesnipe thingies.

Finally, still as calm and collected as ever, Natasha speaks. "Somehow, despite everything, I find that hard to believe." She says bluntly, pursing her lips and shifting slightly on the lounge.

Tony stares at her. "You've fought Chitauri – crazy alien thingies brought on by a _f*cking Norse God_, and you don't believe that I was turned into a werewolf when I was ten?"

The assassin shrugs. "Pretty much."

A pit of anger stirs deep inside Tony's stomach. His eyes narrow and he has to fight to keep his breathing steady. "You'd better believe it, Spider." He snarls, baring his teeth which are already becoming deadly sharp. He doesn't know why he's so mad - just that she doesn't trust him. _Why would she? _And she just needs to listen because Tony doesn't often open up and she probably doesn't get how hard that is for him.

Natasha stares at him – for the first time ever actually letting unease flit across her face. "Tony…?"

She's met with a vicious snarl at her words and, in his terror at being forced to transform, Tony (who looks kind of like some crazy man-wolf hybrid thing right now) scrambles over the back of the couch and lands with a yelp on the other side. Clover and Hunter leap up instantly, and, facing the couch with worried looks, they draw their daggers.

"Get back." Hunter warns, earning a scoff from Clint.

"You three are just full of shit." He says bluntly, arms folded across his chest.

Natasha places a hand on Clint's shoulder and wrenches him to his feet. "C'mon." She whispers. "They're telling the truth. Did you _see _Tony?"

_Of course_ Clint saw him. His teeth were oddly pointed and it looked like he'd let his goatee grow a bit wild… oh _f*ck. _He had a tail – didn't he?

Terror made Clint act quickly. He tugged Natasha back with him and basically _vaulted _over the couch and sprinted to the door. The other Avengers followed suit – just in time too.

Almost instantly, a brown shape leaped out from behind the couch – dark eyes wild with rage and malice. Its tail was deadly still and its fur was prickling dangerously along its back.

_Tony. Werewolf. F*ck. _

Tony snarled, drawing back his lips and baring his teeth viciously. His paws (like the size of bloody _frisbees - _okay, maybe a bit smaller than that) kneaded the ground as he thrust his head up to the ceiling and let out a blood-curdling howl. It was an eerie sound – scarier than anything Clint had ever heard in his life – and made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up like fine little needles.

Hunter narrowed his eyes, the hand which held his dagger twitching slightly. Clover, however, just held up her hands in surrender and dropped her dagger on the ground where the impact of it hitting the floor seemed like the echoing thud of a heartbeat. "_Sed in deditionem_." She whispered nervously. "_Tony, not potest – aut legibus prodimus pravis. Lorem ipsum, consectetuer adipiscing elit." _

Somewhere, in the back of Natasha's numb mind, she could make out the Latin words. _We surrender. Tony, we can't harm you – else we betray the laws of the pack. Please, please calm down._

She was pleading. Pleading to a man who didn't know her – couldn't control himself. Pleading to someone who couldn't understand.

Tony just snarled, more viciously this time, and leaped toward Clover – teeth bared and eyes shining with a thirst for blood.

Time seemed to slow down then.

Clover seemed to be frozen in place, her eyes wide in terror and her mouth slightly agape. She barely registered Hunter's terrified yell of; "_Move!_" or the wind being knocked out of her as he slammed into her side and knocked her out of Tony's way.

So, when the chocolate brown wolf landed, eyes blazing in a sort of triumph, he landed on Hunter.

Clover didn't know who it was that yelled – her or Hunter. But she knew it was a loud, desperate sort of yell and the next thing _she _knew – her dagger was out and pointed furiously at Tony. "Back the _f*ck _off my brother." She snarled, quivering with fury and desperate to hold onto her human form for just a bit longer. She tried to push her terror to the back of her mind and tried not to look at Hunter's eyes which were flickering shut – his breathing hoarse and blood pooling on the ground beneath him.

* * *

**Could you please drop a review? I just wanna know what you thought. **

**Please don't judge me too harshly; writers block is a b*tch. **


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